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KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural
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iij.
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In the thrid chapter and in the chapter folowynge / he
vttereth how fleshly minded he is / and how beestly he
imageneth of God /
as Paule saith .1. corin. 2. the naturall man
can not vnderstond the thinges of the spirite of God. He
thinketh of God / as he doeth of
his cardenall / that he is a monstre / pleased
when men flater him /
and if of whatsoeuer frailte it be / men breake
his commaundementes / he is then raginge mad as the pope is
and seketh to be venged. Naye / God is euer fatherly minded
toward the electe membres of his church. He loued them yer
the world beganne / in Christ.
Ephe. 1. He loueth them / while they be yet
evell and his enimies in their hertes / yer they be come vn
to the knowlege of his sone christe / and yer his law be
written in their hertes: as a father loueth his younge sonne
/ whyle he is yet euell and yer it know the fathers law to
consent therto.
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how beestly he
imageneth of God. More holds that some of the reprobate can be
found inside the visible church and that some of the elect can be found
outside it, "and bothe the one and the other without reason or good
cause why" (CWM 6/1.197/33–34). Perhaps for this statement, Tyndale
thinks that Dialogue
Bk. 2, Ch. 3–4 presents God as a monster (cf. [I4v, “He thinketh of God . . . monstre”]). Later,
Tyndale claims that the doctrine of purgatory makes God into a tyrant
for punishing a soul already forgiven ([M1, “There is no father . . . M1v . . . lust of a tirant”]). Dialogue
claims (6/1.403/1) that Lutheran teaching on predestination casts
God as a tyrant ([P4v, “god . . . tirantes” and commentary note]). For God as an unapproachable monarch, cf.
[K1v, “aftir the similitude of wordely tirantes” and commentary note; and K2, “He likeneth god to worldly tirantes”].
naturall man . .
. spirite of God. Cf. 1 Cor. 2.14.
if . . .
venged. Because Tyndale believes that salvation depends on absolute trust in Christ's merits, he excuses the
temporary "frailte" ([I4v]) of the elect. Because More
believes in the cooperation of divine grace and human action, he
emphasizes "malycyous wyll" in sinners, cf. CWM 6/1.197/30.
yer . . .
Christ. Cf. Eph. 1.4.
He . . .
enimies. Cf. Rom. 5.8.
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And aftir they be once actually of his church and the law
of God
and faith of christ written in their hertes /
their hertes neuer synne
any moare / though as Paule saith .Roman. vij.
the flesh doeth in them that the spirite wold not. And when
they synne of frailte / God ceaseth not to loue them styll
/ though he be angrie / to put a crosse of tribulacions
vppon their backes / to purge them and to subdue
the flesh vn to the spirite or to al to breake
their consciences with threateninge of the lawe and to
feare them with hell. As a father when his sonne offendeth
him feareth him with the rod / but hateth him not.
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flesh . . .
not. Cf. Rom. 7.19.
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